A Beginner’s Guide To The Dakar Rally

Tomorrow, 3 January, sees the 48th edition of the Dakar Rally kick off. Even if you’re not a motorsport hardcore, you’ve probably heard mention of this epic off-road race, most likely preceded by words like ‘gruelling’, ‘tough’ and ‘sweltering’.

But do you actually know how it works, why it’s run and why it’s named after a city nowhere near where it takes place? If not, then don’t worry – we’re here to help you brush up on the basics.

What is the Dakar Rally?

Starting with the basics, huh? The Dakar Rally is a rally raid event. At a basic level, these follow largely the same format as ‘regular’ rallies like those run by the World Rally Championship. Competitors travel around a region, completing timed special stages with non-timed transit sections between them. The aim is to complete the timed bits in the shortest amount of time. And that was a lot of mentions of the word ‘time’.

A rally raid, though, is like a regular rally on steroids. In the case of the Dakar, it lasts for two weeks rather than a few days, and passes through far more inhospitable terrain than anything you’ll find in, say, the WRC. As a result, it’s generally entered by much more serious off-road vehicles, and a greater variety of vehicle types too, but we’ll get onto that later.

And while ‘regular’ stage rallying sees crews navigate using pre-prepared pacenotes detailing each turn and hazard, navigation in the Dakar is done via roadbooks handed out to competitors at the beginning of each stage, so they’re not quite sure what obstacles they’ll be facing until they actually arrive at them.

Where does the Dakar Rally take place?

Well, despite its name, it goes nowhere near the Senegalese capital of Dakar. It used to – early editions of the event began in Paris and saw competitors make their way down through France, Spain and North Africa before finishing up in Dakar, hence its original and still sometimes used name of Paris-Dakar (pronounce ‘Paris’ the French way if you really want to sound like you know what you’re talking about).

The route began alternating a bit more during the 1990s and 2000s, but still generally ended or started in Dakar – until 2008, that is, when growing terrorist threats in Mauritania led to the cancellation of that year’s event the day before it was due to begin.

For 2009, the event moved to South America, variously visiting Argentina, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay. It remained there for a decade before moving in 2020 to a route held entirely within Saudi Arabia. It’s been held exclusively in the country since then, although the route tends to be switched up each year.

When did the Dakar Rally start?

Compared to lots of other marquis motorsport events, the Dakar is relatively young – the first edition was held in 1979, and usefully, the rally comes with a nice little anecdotal soundbite around its creation. 

In 1977, French motorbike racer Thierry Sabine was competing in a cross-country rally in Libya when he got lost in the desert. When he was rescued, he was – and we’re quoting the official Dakar Rally website here – “on the verge of death.” 

That experience would put most normal people off returning for a few lifetimes, but not Sabine – instead, his brush with death inspired him to create a new event running from Paris to Dakar so he could share the majesty of the desert with fellow racers. The hot, isolated, near-death-causing majesty.

What cars compete at the Dakar?

Lots of different ones, and not just cars, either. They’re just one of five broad categories of vehicles that run at the event, outlined below.

Cars

The cars are the Dakar machines you’re probably most familiar with, as they tend to inspire big-budget factory efforts from companies you’ve heard of. They’re divided into two main classes: T1 cars are purpose-built prototypes, either two- or four-wheel drive. For 2026, the T1 class will be populated by factory-built cars like the Dacia Sandrider, Ford Raptor T1+ and a Toyota-entered truck superficially resembling a Hilux, plus all sorts of wild independent entries.

There’s also the T2 class, otherwise known as Stock, which is for near-production-spec cars, mostly kitted out only with the regulation safety gear and some knobbly tyres. It’s in this class that Land Rover is entering a fleet of Defender Octas this year, which will compete against stuff like Toyota Land Cruisers.

There’s also an Open class for vehicles that don’t comply with the FIA-defined categories. 

Trucks

You might have seen these, too. They’re flipping awesome. They’re literally racing versions of commercial lorries, everything from Mercedes Unimogs to massive Ivecos and MANs. Like the cars, they’re further split between production-based trucks and more specialist prototype machinery.

Bikes

The bikes are bikes. Pretty self-explanatory, no? Specifically, they’re motorbikes with capacities of up to 450cc, and the class tends to be entered by purpose-built racing bikes resembling a cross between the big adventure bikes you see getting ridden all over Europe every summer and the dirt bikes that keep you awake by hammering down your street at 2am on a Thursday if you live in suburban Britain. Manufacturers like Honda, KTM and Husqvarna have a big presence in the modern era.

Oh, and because you can’t exactly have someone riding pillion for two weeks of ploughing through the desert, bike entrants have the extra challenge of completing the event solo. Their roadbook comes in the form of a massive scroll of paper mounted to a roller system in the middle of the handlebars. Honestly, sounds like a lot to think about.

Side-by-Sides

The side-by-side class – commonly abbreviated to SxS – is made up of small, two-seater buggy-type vehicles made by companies like Polaris and Can-Am. Like the cars and trucks, they’re further divided into near-production vehicles and purpose-built prototypes.

Classics

First run in 2021, the Dakar Classic is open to rally raid vehicles built up to 2005, or faithful recreations of them. Though it runs alongside the main event, it follows a different format – rather than emphasising outright speed, it’s a blend of a navigational challenge and a regularity rally, emphasising average speed. This event has seen all manner of cool stuff turn up so far, including replicas of the bonkers Porsche 959s and Peugeot 205 T16s entered in the ’80s.

Is anyone racing that I’ve heard of?

Quite possibly. Piloting one of the Ford T1 entries will be Carlos Sainz. No, not the Carlos Sainz who races in F1 in between using his lovely hair to sell us shampoo, but his dad. Sainz Sr. is a pretty handy driver in his own right, especially on the loose stuff – he won two World Rally Championships in the ’90s, and has since won four Dakars, most recently in 2024. And did we mention he’s doing this at the age of 63, when most people might be thinking about booking onto a Saga Cruise? What a legend.

Speaking of legendary rally drivers, the WRC’s statistical GOAT, Sébastien Loeb, will also be having his ninth crack at the Dakar, driving for Dacia. The cross-country marathon is pretty much the only thing he’s entered that he hasn’t won, something he’ll be eager to change this year.

Another multidisciplinarian you might be familiar with is Romain Dumas. He’s won Le Mans twice and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb five times (including setting the current outright record in 2018), but has had less luck at the Dakar, failing to finish in four of his eight entries. Joining Ford for 2026, he, too, will be aiming to change that.

Then there are the Dakar veterans, relatively unknown to the wider world but legends within rally raid circles. Among them are Stéphane Peterhansel, who’s won eight times – and that’s just in cars. He’s racked up six wins in the bike class too, making him comfortably the most successful driver/rider in the event’s history, and this year he’ll be driving one of the near-stock Defender Octas. You can never count out five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, either, who’s taking on the event in one of the Dacias this year.

How can I watch it?

Well, to see it in person, you’ll need to get yourself to Saudi Arabia, which sounds like a good excuse to escape the British January weather. Might be a bit short notice at this point, though – maybe next year? Obviously, the rally heads to some pretty inhospitable places, so if you’re going solo, you’re best off sticking to the designated spectator areas. There are plenty of companies that offer spectator tour packages that follow the event more closely, though, including overnight camping.

Of course, such a long event through remote terrain doesn’t quite lend itself to TV broadcasts like, say, an F1 race. As a result, TV viewing and streaming tend to be limited to daily highlights. Shorter highlights clips are posted each day during the event on the official Dakar Rally YouTube channel, while longer packages are prepared by paid streaming services including TNT Sports and Red Bull TV.